It has been several weeks since Grace performed in The Lion King, Jr. with our school. Today I am finally sitting down to recap and start the blog up again. Whew!!!! People, musical theater is not for whimps! Those kids work HARD!!!!!! Those parents work HARD!!!!!! Those directors work HARD!!!!!

We honestly had the BEST experience with musical theater this year! Our director LOVES people and it is her goal in life to encourage the kids and build their self-esteem in any way she can! (Not always the case with theater directors, in case you didn’t know!!!!!) Grace flourished under this direction, and I watched her go out there and get better at each practice. So proud of her!

Performances were absolutely amazing! I have been to MANY children’s performances, and let me just say that our school goes WAY, WAY above and beyond!!!!! It is inspiring to watch everything come together for opening night, and to be a part of the excitement. This year, I was blessed to be able to “help” the director in many ways, so I got to know the families really well. I cannot even tell you how amazing our school and our families are, and how fun it has been to get to know so many of them! This is why it is so hard when performance week is over and everyone packs up their stuff and goes home. It is a serious let-down! These kids have been practicing for 6 hours per week since December, then “tech week” happens and they are together every day for 6 days straight! As we head home after the final performance, it’s very sad! So sad! Then we all begin to talk about “the next show” and how ready we are to audition… because we are all sick in the head!

Seriously though, this was a great year! Mom and Dad came out from Texas and made it that much sweeter. We missed Micah’s mom, but will get to see her very soon and can’t wait! Here are some pictures that were taken along the way of our cast of The Lion King, Jr!

Sweet Sydney came and spent the day with us during dress rehearsal!

Our director wore MANY hats! Here she is painting Scar.

Cute giraffes!

Hyenas…always in character!

Entire cast!

Our director and choreographer! Love these two ladies!

That sun in the back moved up and down! It was made by one of our amazing dads!

My lioness in action!

Fierce lionesses!

Ben’s friend was Simba!

Grace and Mrs. Imel! We love her!

Rafiki! Photo Credit: Kate Colello

Lions vs. Hyenas Photo Credit: Denise Hughes

I just can’t wait to be King!

Lioness, Rafiki, and Zazu

Timon and Pumba Photo Credit: Kate Colello

Who doesn’t love Timon and Pumba?!

I kept telling Scar to smile, until I realized that he couldn’t! Haha!